


Of neighbours, cats, and stolen cookies

by Awkward_Dalek



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Apartment AU, Gen, One Shot, fluffy as frick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-27 01:07:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awkward_Dalek/pseuds/Awkward_Dalek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura as just about had it with her neighbour's pesky cat and the stupid 'presents' it insists on leaving on her doormat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of neighbours, cats, and stolen cookies

It had happened again. This was the fourth - no - fifth time Laura had left her apartment only to find a very small, very dead animal on her door mat and, quite frankly, she was sick of it. She had almost stepped on the poor creature this time, one foot out the door, her hand still on the handle of her apartment door.

"That is disgusting," she muttered, wrinkling her nose as she nudged what looked like a mouse with the edge of her shoe. This was definitely the fault of her neighbours cat, a cat that wasn't even supposed to be in the building, which only made it more infuriating. Their apartment block was strictly against pets and Laura had half a mind to march herself down to her landlords office and demand that something be done about this immediately. 

Not that that would achieve anything, of course, because from what Laura had gathered the landlord or, well, landlady, was the mother of her rule breaking neighbour. She wasn't entirely sure how accurate that assumption was but from the few snippets of conversation she had shared with her neighbour, and the fact that her and their landlady seemed to argue a lot about personal things, she felt it was a safe assumption.

This did, however, mean she’d have to deal with the problem herself. Opening the door to her apartment, she stepped inside and walked down the entrance hall to her tiny closet of a kitchen. Being quite small herself, having a small kitchen didn't really bother her because it wasn't like she took up that much room, but it did mean having to climb on top of counters to look inside the cupboards that were higher up on the wall, which was mostly an inconvenience at best and a death hazard at worst. 

Well, it wasn't normally a death hazard, but she didn't normally have people waltzing themselves in to [i]her[/i] apartment, standing in [i]her[/i] hallway, and scaring the hell out of [i]her[/i]. 

"Do you not have a stool you could use," the voice said, and Laura almost lost her balance, barely managing to stop herself falling off and crashing on to the floor. Barely. 

“I'm sorry but what exactly are you doing in my apartment?” Laura asked, lowering herself back on to the ground and turning to face the intruder. She wasn't sure who she’d been expecting, maybe Perry or LaF, but instead she was met with the face of her neighbour, Carmilla, the owner of the stupid cat. Perfect. It didn't help that her neighbour also happened to be rather attractive, enough so that Laura needed a few minutes to collect her thoughts because the girl had this smile on her face that was almost indecent.

“Your door was open.”

The sound of words managed to knock Laura out of whatever dream world she’d been in, almost laughing at the pure stupidity of the excuse she was being given. That was it. The door was open. Laura raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms across her chest. She would say she was annoyed, but that would be an understatement. “So you thought you would just walk inside. Just let yourself into a stranger’s apartment. Nothing seems wrong with that?”

She watched as Carmilla shrugged, walking towards Laura, into the kitchen and helping herself to a cookie from the packet on the counter. Because, as if intruding wasn't enough, she apparently also felt entitled to her food. “Look, I don’t know what you think gives you the right to just…” 

“There was a dead animal outside your door,” Carmilla interrupted, smirking at the look of indignation on Laura’s face. “I was just making sure it wasn't some crime thing, cupcake.”

Crime thing? The pure absurdness of it made her want to scream. “That [i]dead animal[/i] is the fault of none other but your ridiculous cat!” If Laura’s voice rose slightly, well, she was angry, it was allowed. Although, that didn't seem to matter to Carmilla who still had that smirk on her face, as if Laura’s anger somehow amused her and god Laura wished it didn't make her look so attractive. “And don’t call me cupcake! I have a name, you’d do very well to use it.”

Carmilla, it appeared, simply chose to ignore her, instead helping herself to another cookie and looking around her surroundings, as if taking them in for the first time. 

The kitchen was certainly seeming a lot more cramped with a second person in it that was for sure.

“I assure you I don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re not allowed pets here, right?” Carmilla asked, face the picture of innocence, as if she had no idea what Laura was on about. 

Laura pulled a face, one that she hoped conveyed the feeling of ‘don’t bullshit me miss-steals-cookies’ but might have also just made her look momentarily possessed. “I've seen your cat, it’s that huge black thing that comes and goes from YOUR apartment and leaves dead things on MY doormat. And sometimes, they aren't even dead. Sometimes, they are tiny little birds that you think are dead and so you pick it up and bring it into your apartment to somehow dispose of it and then it starts flying around and you have to hide in your bedroom for half an hour until animal control turns up.” She was scowling now, raising her voice at Carmilla and honestly wishing she could wipe that smug smile off the girl’s face because, really, here Laura was all indignant and there Carmilla was, looking highly amused. 

“Whatever you say, cupcake, but I'm not hiding any cats around here. Thanks for the cookies.” 

And with that, Carmilla turned and walked towards the door, Laura scrambling to catch up with her. 

“Don’t you cupcake me, Carmilla, I know it’s your cat okay and I demand that you sort this out,” she said, using her best authoritative voice but it did no good, Carmilla just ignored her, walked out the door, and into her own apartment across the building.

Laura let out a noise of frustration, something similar to a growl and a long ‘ugh’, and slammed her door shut. Someone else could deal with the animal, she didn't care any more. It could [i]rot[/i] there for all she cared, she wasn't giving in and cleaning it up.

At least, she tried not to care. She tried really hard, walking away from her front door and into her kitchen to clear away the cookie crumbs her incredibly impolite guest had left, and it lasted all of five minutes before she gave in, clambering back up onto the counter and grabbing a bin bag, silently reminding herself to tell Danny to stop putting essentials up so high.

“I can’t believe I'm the one that as to do this,” she muttered under her breath as she stormed down her hall, wrenching the front door open, ready to sort out the stupid mess that wasn't hers, and being incredibly confused. The mouse was gone, there weren't even any signs that a mouse had been there, and for a moment Laura was confused, completely forgetting just how angry she’d been moments ago. She was still staring at the doormat when she heard a cough from opposite her, and she looked up to see Carmilla, holding a bag in her hand, with a smile on her face that just screamed trouble. 

“You owe me, cupcake,” Carmilla said, grinning, before turning and entering her apartment, shutting the door behind her. 

And just like that, the anger came flooding back. “Owe her? For cleaning up her own mess? You have got to be kidding me,” Laura said, apparently louder than she thought because she could have sworn she heard the faint sound of laughter coming from the other girl’s apartment.

Taking a deep breath, Laura went back in to her apartment. It was official, her neighbour was going to drive her absolutely insane.

And she wasn't sure she minded.


End file.
